I can't stress how much I love avant-hip-hop label Mush Records. Everything they release is totally interesting if not groundbreaking, and their artists take hip-hop into its future without ever letting it lose its roots - but never forcing it into a dumb box. These guys gave us Aesop Rock's first record, cLOUDDEAD, So-Called Artists, Boom Bip, and they release longtime underground talents, such as the forthcoming collection from Baltimore's rhyming godhead Labtekwon. Fuckin' A. Anyway, Radioinactive falls into the latter category; he's from Los Angeles and used to be in Log Cabin with some of the Living Legends fellows, but only recently has he been receiving his worldwide due. Radio rhymes his words like they're butcher's knives cutting carrots, sharply but easily, and often squished together. The trippiness is enhanced by about seven vocal tracks on each song, making it sound like there's a lot of Radioinactives on your headphones. "Pyramidi" is like looking at hip-hop through a snow globe, or without gravity. - Portland Mercury |